Modric, Ronaldo, Salah Battle for UEFA Player of the Year Award

Mohamed Salah, Cristiano Ronaldo and Luka Modric are on the three-man shortlist for the 2017-18 UEFA Men’s Player of the Year award but Lionel Messi has been overlooked.

Salah has been nominated after finishing runner-up with Liverpool in last season’s Champions League.

The Egyptian winger scored an incredible 44 goals in his debut season at Liverpool, just three shy of Ian Rush’s club-record seasonal haul.

Ronaldo was nominated after winning a record fifth Champions League title – his third in straight succession for Real Madrid – and finishing top scorer in the competition for a sixth season running.

And finally, Modric enjoyed a fantastic season, winning the Champions League alongside Ronaldo, as well as finishing runner up at the World Cup and claiming the Golden Ball.

But there was no space on the shortlist for Barcelona star Messi, who was dumped out of Europe’s top competition to Roma in the last-eight stage.

The award recognises the top players featuring for a club within the territory of a UEFA member association during the past season.

The stars are judged on their displays in all competitions, at domestic, continental and international level.

The three-man shortlist was chosen by 80 coaches of the clubs that participated in the group stages of last term’s Champions League and Europa League, as well as 50 journalists selected by the European Sports Media (ESM) group.

The members of the jury chose their best three players, with first place getting five points, the second three and the third one.

The shortlist was announced on Monday afternoon and the winner will be revealed during the Champions League group stage draw in Monaco on Thursday 30 August.

On the same day, the UEFA Women’s Player of the Year and UEFA Champions League positional award will also be announced.

Pernille Harder, Ada Hegerberg and Amandine Henry are the three shortlisted for the women’s award.

Denmark striker Harder plays for Wolfsburg, while Norway forward Hegerberg and France defensive midfielder Henry are team-mates at Lyon.

Ronaldo, who joined Juventus from Real Madrid for £99.2m in July, won the male award in 2017, while Dutch midfielder Lieke Martens won the women’s honour shortly after leaving Swedish club Rosengard for Barcelona.

PAST WINNERS

2011 – Lionel Messi

2012 – Andres Iniesta

2013 – Franck Ribery

2014 – Cristiano Ronaldo

2015 – Lionel Messi

2016 – Cristiano Ronaldo

2017 – Cristiano Ronaldo